Narrative:

While deadheading on this flight; I noticed from my seat; which was towards the front of the aircraft; that the airflow in the cabin was minimal while taxiing at a low power setting. Accepting this as typical; I assumed the cabin airflow strength would improve once the flight departed. This however; was not the case; and airflow actually became worse. The cabin temperatures rose to a point where most passengers were sweating visibly and had made some sort of statement regarding the cabin temperature to passengers around them. The flight attendant was also repeatedly making comments about the heat. Upon arrival we discussed the temperature with the crew leaving the aircraft - they remarked that they noticed no abnormalities from the flight deck. During a brief inspection of the cabin I found a significant amount of condensation forming on the row 4-LEFT passenger service unit (psu). I assumed this was due to pooling cold air above the psu's. We departed ZZZ and found the gasper vent airflow in the flight deck to be comparatively low to the rest of the fleet. Upon arrival; dispatch and maintenance control were contacted. The write-up 'cabin airflow insufficient for high ambient temperature operations' was entered. I explained to the maintenance controller my observations and provided him with information regarding the forming condensation in row 4. To my knowledge no 'corrective action' was taken on this aircraft to rectify the situation and the system was operationally (ops) checked as 'normal'. There is no means on a dash-8 to quantify cabin temperature or duct output temperature. While a small amount of system operation variance is normal; a set of limitations should be developed to measure cabin temperature and gasper and duct output temperature to determine the cooling effectiveness of the aircraft. When compared to ambient air temperature this information would be useful to the mechanics during troubleshooting. As of now there is no quantifiable means to determine proper system operation which commonly leads to these issues being cleared as 'ops checked good' or 'ops normal' or some other unsatisfactory 'corrective action.' this is not the first dash-8 to experience cabin temperature issues; and others before it in the past two to three months have been written up repeatedly before going down for a significant length of time to fix a significant; and likely persistent issue with the air conditioning system (bad seals; faulty valves; etc.). Simple aircraft routing should not dictate when corrective action can be taken on these aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain reports the cabin airflow in their DHC-8-200 aircraft was insufficient for high ambient temperature operations. Pilot notes that Maintenance did not have any quantifiable means to determine proper system operation regarding cabin temperature or duct output temperature.

Narrative: While deadheading on this flight; I noticed from my seat; which was towards the front of the aircraft; that the airflow in the cabin was minimal while taxiing at a low power setting. Accepting this as typical; I assumed the cabin airflow strength would improve once the flight departed. This however; was not the case; and airflow actually became worse. The cabin temperatures rose to a point where most passengers were sweating visibly and had made some sort of statement regarding the cabin temperature to passengers around them. The Flight Attendant was also repeatedly making comments about the heat. Upon arrival we discussed the temperature with the crew leaving the aircraft - they remarked that they noticed no abnormalities from the flight deck. During a brief inspection of the cabin I found a significant amount of condensation forming on the Row 4-LEFT Passenger Service Unit (PSU). I assumed this was due to pooling cold air above the PSU's. We departed ZZZ and found the gasper vent airflow in the flight deck to be comparatively low to the rest of the fleet. Upon arrival; Dispatch and Maintenance Control were contacted. The write-up 'cabin airflow insufficient for high ambient temperature operations' was entered. I explained to the Maintenance Controller my observations and provided him with information regarding the forming condensation in Row 4. To my knowledge no 'Corrective Action' was taken on this aircraft to rectify the situation and the system was operationally (ops) checked as 'Normal'. There is no means on a Dash-8 to quantify cabin temperature or duct output temperature. While a small amount of system operation variance is normal; a set of limitations should be developed to measure cabin temperature and gasper and duct output temperature to determine the cooling effectiveness of the aircraft. When compared to ambient air temperature this information would be useful to the mechanics during troubleshooting. As of now there is no quantifiable means to determine proper system operation which commonly leads to these issues being cleared as 'ops checked good' or 'ops normal' or some other unsatisfactory 'corrective action.' This is not the first Dash-8 to experience cabin temperature issues; and others before it in the past two to three months have been written up repeatedly before going down for a significant length of time to fix a significant; and likely persistent issue with the air conditioning system (bad seals; faulty valves; etc.). Simple aircraft routing should not dictate when corrective action can be taken on these aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.